Books Are My People Weekly Newsletter
out today, paperback releases and more!
Books Are My People: A Podcast Companion Newsletter
Dear Reader,
I recently read the novel Worry by Alexandra Tanner - a novel about two sisters living together, and in it, one of the sisters observes that even through she spends all of her time on her cell phone, she never has dreams about being on her cell phone and I thought, wait a minute, have I ever had a dream about being on my cell phone? I have not! So I was wondering, have you?
Everyone I’ve asked so far has said no, not that they can remember. I find this fascinating. Like our brains are trying to protect us from cell phones as we sleep.
10-Year Anniversary:
Ten years have flown by since my young adult novel, Strays, was published. Here’s my rescue dog, Goose, celebrating my novel. It’s about a young woman living in Santa Cruz, California who has anger management issues, and after an incident at school, she’s sentenced to a summer program rehabilitating aggressive dogs. This novel was inspired by a reactive aggressive dog we adopted twenty years ago, as well an organization I came across years ago when I wrote the dog column for a newspaper in Los Feliz.
Gelli Joy:
We had so much fun during my free gelli plate demonstration / class last week. Thank you to the over 120 people who signed up! I plan on holding more of these in the future and they will be free to paying Substack subscribers.
Podcast News:
You can click here to listen to the most recent episode of my book recommendation podcast - And, if you haven't yet, the greatest gift would be to rate my show, wherever you listen.
Member’s Corner:
April / May Women’s Hotel - Meetup TOMORROW!
We will be meeting on Wednesday, May 28th at 1 PM PT to discuss Women’s Hotel. Members can register here.
June: Independent Reading Month: read whatever you’d like! We’ll gather over zoom at the end of the month to discuss.
July: Book to Film Adaptation - We Were Liars by e.lockhart. Order your copy here!
August / September: Read With Me: to be announced soon!
The best way you can support this newsletter is to click on the books below and purchase them through my Bookshop.org affiliate store. A portion of your spending goes to independent bookstores! A win-win-win! (You win, I win, indie bookstores win!) Let Me Help You Discover New Books! (I’ve starred the ones I’ve read) I’m confident readers of all stripes will find their next read in this newsletter, where there’s something for everyone! You can learn more about me by visiting my introductory post here.
Today’s New Releases: (I’ve starred the ones I’ve read)
A harrowing look at megafires and the special forces that fight them: When It All Burns: Fighting Fire In A Transformed World by Jordan Thomas -A hotshot firefighter’s gripping firsthand account of a record-setting fire season weaving ecology and the history of Indigenous peoples' oppression, federal forestry, and the growth of the fire industrial complex.
Set over the course of ten years: Consider Yourself Kissed by Jessica Stanley - Something important is missing from the life Coralie and Adam have built. Or maybe, having gained everything she dreamed of, Coralie has lost something else she once had: herself. A novel that asks the question: What happens when you find love, but life keeps getting in the way?
A book in a bookstore: Storybook Ending by Moira Macdonald - A charming story about friendship, community, and the magic that happens in bookstores—when an anonymous note left in a book finds the wrong recipient.
literary fiction and millennial angst: Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan - After taking a spill down the stairs at a New Year’s Eve party, thirty-year-old Max, a trans woman decides to make some changes. First: a stab at good old-fashioned heteronormativity.
Paperback Releases:
*The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez - Historical fiction about the Panama Canal, told from the perspective of a multitude of voices.
*The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden - A tale of desire, suspicion, and obsession between two women staying in the same house in the Dutch countryside during the summer of 1961.
*Sandwich by Catherine Newman - A moving and hilarious story of a family Cape Cod summer vacation, full of secrets, lunch, and learning to let go where the protagonist is “sandwiched” between her aging parents and her kids.
Listen to me interview Catherine Newman about Sandwich on Books Are My People.
You Are Here by David Nicholls- When a persistent mutual friend and some very unpredictable weather conspire to toss Michael and Marnie together on the most epic of ten-day hikes, neither of them can think of anything worse. Until, of course, they discover exactly what they’ve been looking for.
ART:
I so enjoyed painting this image from a photo reference from Emma Carlisle. I spent a longer-than-usual amount of time on this painting (i.e. over twenty minutes) because my family was watching a hockey game that I wasn’t totally into, but I wanted to hang out with them, so I brought my paints down and it was a win-win for everyone. And I only got a little bit of paint on our kitchen table.
